Wooden Doll

Art Historical Context

**Wooden Doll**, a captivating rendering by Jane Iverson from around 1936, captures the charm of an early American folk art doll standing 12¼ inches tall. Created as part of the Index of American Design (IAD), this mixed-media work on paper—measuring 13⅝ × 10¹¹⁄₁₆ inches—employs watercolor, graphite, gouache, pen, and ink to vividly document a humble wooden figure. Iverson's precise yet lively depiction highlights the doll's carved features, simple joints, and painted details, evoking the handmade toys of colonial and early American homes. The IAD, a Federal Art Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression, commissioned over 18,000 such plates from 1935 to 1942. Artists like Iverson celebrated everyday American crafts, preserving cultural heritage amid economic hardship. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's collection, this piece underscores the project's mission to honor folk traditions, blending documentation with artistic flair. Iverson's technique—layering translucent watercolors over graphite sketches and bold gouache accents—brings the doll to life, mimicking its three-dimensional form on a flat surface. It invites visitors to appreciate how ordinary objects embody regional craftsmanship and playfulness, a testament to America's vernacular art.

About the Artist

Jane Iverson · 1910–1997

Jane Iverson is an artist whose biographical details — including her dates, nationality, and training — are not well represented in the major art historical reference sources currently available. The limited documentation surrounding her career makes it difficult to characterize her practice in relation to any specific school, movement, or period. Works attributed to Iverson in museum collections...